Chapter 312: Standing at the Crossroads of Great Success

Blacksmithing essentially consists of three processes: softening the steel, beating the absolute crap out of it, and then cooling it down. I'm sure it's much more complicated strictly speaking, but at the very least, those three actions are always performed.
However, this blacksmithing session to resurrect Areadbhair presented an entirely different spectacle from the norm.

"Nu, ooooooh, odoryaaaaa!"

Burn it, heat it, raise the firepower endlessly, and sear the decayed blade. As if screaming that even a single second of cooling would ruin everything, the heat inside the furnace—which had its firepower continuously raised—ran so violently rampant within its prison that it felt like the shabby blade had literally melted into the light.

"This Sword (Tsurugi) is... made of flames. So, to wake it up... it needs heat strong enough to completely burn away the dulled, decayed iron...!"

"I-In other words, you just need to raise the temperature..."

Even with the game's pain nullification active, Bilac's workshop had taken on the atmosphere of a literal sauna. Yet, as if that still wasn't enough, the flames residing within the furnace increased their light and heat even further.

"Gu......... oryaa!"

Bilac threw in even more fuel, and the momentum of the fire surged once more. A wave of heat—reminiscent of the thermal shockwave unleashed by the X-Broccoli back then—vomited out of the furnace's mouth, its only exit, and swept across the workshop. At this rate, Aramis was seriously going to die.

"Emul, grab Aramis and evacuate. Also, bring back some water while you're at it."

"G-Gotcha..."

"O-Oh Maiden's younger sister... dragging my face along the gr-gububu..."

Watching Emul drag Aramis out of the workshop with a zuruzuru, I reseated myself in the room, which felt like it was about to be completely painted over by blinding light.

"Bilac... if push comes to shove, I'm gonna drag you out to safety, okay...!"

"Heh heh... Ya just stay there and watch...! It still ain't enough... the real show starts now...!"

Firepower, huh.

"By the way, Bilac, what is that jewel?"

"This here... is a Fire-Kindlin' Magic Stone crafted in Catzeria."

In short, it was an item that served as a further downgrade of a Magic Scroll, meant to scatter a phenomenon that couldn't even be fully classified as magic. Among them, it seemed she was hurling the ones capable of producing the highest firepower into the furnace to act as detonators.

"Does that mean any kind of magic power works as long as it does that?"

"Nna...? Nah, that ain't it. It's gotta be somethin' packed with fire magic power... Wait, what the hell are ya doin'..."

I have some, you know... "Fire attribute" ores.

"If you look reallllly closely at Roenanva Amber Crystals... you can actually tell what's sealed inside them, you know..."

The one I used for the Levin Trigger: Hazard had black Sparks scattering inside the amber. And the one I was currently gripping... yes, the fresh Amber Crystal I just mined from the Crystal Nest Cliff... despite being wrapped in an amber hue, I could clearly see a roaring crimson fire burning within.
Since I didn't have any particular use for them, I had a pretty decent stockpile of Amber Crystals, but this one in particular gave off the most intense aura of them all.

"Bilac... step back a bit."

If I recall correctly, Roenanva Amber Crystals are ranked based on their quality. Perfect timing, let's treat this like a lottery draw.
Inside the workshop that had transformed into a hellish sauna, the memories of my strong arm honed in baseball games roared to life.

"All! Or! Noth! Ing!"

The amber, roughly the size of a golf ball and containing a crimson lotus within, left my hand pushed by an idealized velocity.
The amber flew in a magnificent straight line that even I wanted to applaud, melting into the light and disappearing into the heat...

"Owa."

"Ngya."

The next instant, the inside of the furnace, which had been emitting a pure white incandescence, was completely repainted in a single shade of crimson. The flames, freed from their amber prison, vomited an aftershock from the furnace's mouth, and my body—which had instinctively acted as a shield for Bilac—was blown into smithereens.

A cut to black, then a fade-in to light.

"Ha!"

Respawn! Saving my game at the Rabbit Palace once was seriously the right move! Well done, past me!

"S-Sunraku-san! I heard an incredibly dangerous sound just now, desu wa!?"

"Confirming Bilac's safety comes first! Let's go, boys!"

"The Maiden is in danger!? Roar and dance, my whirlwind!"

Chasing after Aramis, who had literally bolted at a blistering speed following his own words, I returned to Bilac's workshop. There, I found Bilac lying in the hallway right outside, her eyes spinning in circles—likely blown away by the aftershock of the heatwave. And inside, the workshop had returned to its normal luminosity, as if the raging storm from just moments ago was nothing but a lie.

"Well, at least she's alive..."

Casually tossing in some fuel causing an explosion that kills the boss's daughter wouldn't just result in Disciplinary Action, it would straight-up become an execution case. In a way, I was saved, but...

"Oh Maiden, this is truly a moment for a kiss from your beloved..."

"Die!"

"Agoa!?"

Using a rabbit's leg strength for a kick-upper is just foul play... Pressing my hands together in prayer for Aramis, who had been knocked out clean while tracing a beautiful arc through the air, I lent a hand to help the newly-awakened Bilac up.

"Ya bastard, just what the hell did ya throw in there..."

"No, honestly, I'm surprised too. I didn't think the firepower would increase that much."

"It didn't just increase, it doubled... Thanks to that, the decayed blade's been perfectly resurrected."

Inside the furnace, where the light and heat from just moments ago had completely vanished like an illusion, a single sword remained alone amidst the aftermath of a rampage that felt like it had burned everything to ash.

"The Champion's Weapon (Grateful) that finally regained its true form... Areadbhair Repair, I reckon."

"Ooh..."

The blade of the spear-tip pulsed with "Fire," looking exactly like the veins running across a leaf. Perhaps I was a bit dazed despite thinking I was calm, but because I lifted it with arm strength that didn't match its weight, the unsteady blade simply fell onto the anvil, devoid of any swinging force...

Jyuuh.

"You've gotta be kidding me."

The anvil—which should boast an incredible hardness meant to catch heated steel—melted away as if it were cheese. No, wait, that wasn't even the blade! It was the "flat" of the sword touching it, and it still did this!?

"Ya dumbass! Don't put it on the floor! Not the floor!"

"Uwaah!?"

Before I knew it, Areadbhair had started rapidly sinking into the floor, melting the wood away. Frantically, I pulled it back up. Judging it too dangerous to keep holding, I returned it to the inside of the furnace, and finally, everyone let out a breath and relaxed their shoulders.

"What absurd thermal energy... Are you telling me it absorbed that entire hellfire into itself?"

Aramis muttered, staring at the floor, which now featured a sword-shaped melted indentation.

"As expected, even for me, handling this is going to be a bit tough."

A greatsword can be used as a shield or a blunt weapon, but utilizing those methods naturally means touching the blade itself quite often. If I tried that with this sword, it wouldn't be weird if my hands completely melted off. Well, that being said, slamming it into an enemy would undoubtedly result in a devastatingly effective strike.

"I know... We can't handle this thing without a 'Scabbard'."

I see. It wouldn't be a laughing matter if I carelessly shoved this into my Inventoria and caused a massive disaster. If there was a scabbard capable of wrapping up this violently evil blade, nothing would be better.

"But, but, is there really a scabbard that can store such a ridiculously hot sword, desu wa?"

"Right? Having a scabbard heavier than the sword itself would be a nightmare."

However, as expected of the "Master Craftsman" Bilac, her eyes as a blacksmith that had seen through Areadbhair's true essence seemed to have already derived the answer.

"It's true that to craft a scabbard capable of withstandin' this heat, we'd normally 'ave to remodel that furnace itself into a scabbard... But there's this convenient thing called magic in this world, so we'll figure somethin' out."

"Specifically?"

"I'll have Effuielle help me craft a scabbard infused with the power of water. To do that, we need materials with a strong water affinity..."

Gorogorogoro

• Slavegiven Carrier-Angler Materials (Leftovers)

• Materials from the monsters acting as the Carrier-Angler's kin

• Kaisen-Oh Materials

• Atlanticus Repnorca Materials (Leftovers)

• Arctus Regalecus Materials (Leftovers)

• An absurd amount of various Ruluiath seafood materials

"............"

"............"

Smiling with a niko, my Gazing Bird mask—the bottom half of which had completely burned away—facing her, Bilac let out a very, very long sigh and said...

"First things first, we're fixin' that mask of yers."

"Please take care of itー!"

The durability was dangerously low, man.

Author's Afterword
Well, if you toss in a bomb containing the highest grade of "Wildfire", that's obviously what happens.

The "Blazing Flame Tree" that serves as the origin for the Roenanva Amber Crystals sounds like it would have incredibly high fire resistance just from its name. And indeed, it does. Yet, it was completely burned to ash by those flames... Just what exactly happened in the past?

Divine Age Humans: "Hey, there's something in the volcano! Let's investigate it!"
Garlic Chive Butterfly: Sneezes

The classic sci-fi trope of stepping on a landmine purely because someone decided to investigate something on a whim always makes me want to retort, but I honestly love it.